Hi guys, I have four units in Malaysia (which has no approval/certification to use goTenna, and probably no plans to pursue that regulatory approval). The nearest approved country is Singapore where it uses 920.5 - 924.5 MHz @ 0.5w.
I wish to use the units without the risk of being captured by regulatory spectrum scanners (yes, they do “wardriving” here). Is it possible for the phone app to set the goTenna units to at least comply with local restrictions even if it’s not for the approval process? Defaulting to USA settings is risky at 902.5 - 927.5 MHz @ 1.0w.
The approval for short-distance radio communications in Malaysia around this band are as follows:
Below 916 MHz : unknown assignment - could be military
916 - 919 MHz : 25 mW with <1% duty cycle or frequency hopping
919 - 923 MHz : 500 mW
923 - 924 MHz : 500 mW with <1% duty cycle or frequency hopping.
You can see that these restrictions more or less follow the Singaporean requirements (except that extra 0.5 MHz at the end of the range). For the sake of compatibility with neighbouring countries, following Singapore’s settings isn’t too bad (allows people to ping each other across the border?). Otherwise being able to use 919 - 923 MHz @ 500 mW is safe - this band is also approved for RFID applications at 2 watts. If I get questioned, I could argue it is a compliant device even if it’s never been formally approved.
I want to use goTenna but I do not want to pay a hefty fine / sit in jail, and help others who want to use goTenna in Malaysia as a tourist / traveler too.
Not too clear about the technical details of this case, but apparently this guy was charged over use of uncertified DECT handsets. The same could happen to me if I try to set up a stationary relay node.
Unfortunately you are correct. Given what you describe regarding the regulatory environment in Malaysia I would use them locally at your own risk as the devices will default to US/FCC settings when in an area we do not have certification for. If you are really worried, just store them for your own travel abroad.
Yeah, I read it the first time around. On iPhone it’s just an app, but it’s a bit tiresome having to play this game every time I want to fire up the goTenna. And even if it did work for the stationary relay (it’s disconnected from the phone?), potentially the relay will not hear other stations not spoofing location which defeats the purpose of having a public relay building a mesh. Not quite sure how the relay mode works (does it only listen on the frequencies of the location it’s in, or does it always scan the entire range)?
Well I want to be a #meshbeliever … Don’t want to see these pretty babies sit in the drawer all year long until vacation month comes. Could we at least update the app so that for the interim, turning on in Malaysia would switch it to Singapore mode? I’m sure the Singaporeans will be excited at being able to use their devices when they come over Please?
You ask a good question. I’m pretty sure that putting a Gotenna in stationary relay mode will make it use the default US settings even if it was previously paired with a Phone in another region.
If you simply disconnect the Gotenna Mesh on the other hand without unpairing it the settings based on the last GPS coordinates should remain.
Does the SDK currently give you the sort of granular control over frequencies that would be needed to create an app with custom “country profiles”? I know the Pro allows configuration of specific licensed frequency bands, but as far as I can tell the SDK just lets you set the device to one of the pre-confgured regions.
It would be a great addition to be able to set the frequencies on the mesh to specific bands/ranges. Might be nice if you know you have a lot of interference over a specific frequency band… or if you have other 900mhz equipment and you want to keep the Mesh from causing interference.
Please? 